Who Takes Part in the Political Game? The Sex Work Governance Debate in Israel

Stephanie Levy-Aronovic,Yeela Lahav-Raz,Aviad Raz

doi:10.1007/s13178-020-00476-4

Stephanie Levy-Aronovic, Yeela Lahav-Raz + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00476-4

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Abstract

IntroductionThis study explores the recent neo-abolitionist legislation of the Israeli sex industry by illustrating the competing claims of various stakeholders: those leading the legal change and those protesting it. The main question is how Israeli sex workers perceive the public debate over governing the Israeli sex industry.MethodsThis study combines qualitative methods that include ethnographic observations and interviews. The ethnographic observations were carried out between November 2018 and October 2019 in gatherings, protests, and academic conferences where sex workers were the lead speakers. In addition, 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with sex workers across various indoor sectors, and four interviews were conducted with political figures to learn about their efforts to adopt neo-abolitionist legislation.Resultsthe Israeli legislative proceedings initiated in 2007 deny sex workers a voice and exclude them from the political space and policy debates that have a direct bearing on their working lives and wellbeing. Thus, Israeli sex workers perceive sex work governance as controlling their agency and deepening their stigmatization. In this process, we show how contrasting groups became strange bedfellows in their attempt to protect sex workers by incriminating clients of the sex industry.ConclusionsWe conclude that the binary framings of debates about sex work in Israel do not address the actual needs or political desires of sex workers who are ignored and excluded from the discourse about them.Policy ImplicationsFurthermore, we conclude that the issue at hand is not about permitting sex workers to express their views but rather about the need to listen to their critiques to ensure that policy is built on their knowledge and experience.

Highlights

This study explores the recent neo-abolitionist legislation of the Israeli sex industry by illustrating the competing claims of various stakeholders: those leading the legal change and those protesting it
The legislative process was already in motion, and sex workers were, not able to make a real impact on the outcome. In light of these events, this study examines how Israeli sex workers perceive the public debate over governing the sex industry in Israel and argues that they see sex work governance as controlling their agency and deepening their stigmatization
Of the women we interviewed, most described the legislative process as a reduction of their agency, as propaganda that expands social stigma, and as destructive for women working in the industry

Summary

Introduction

This study explores the recent neo-abolitionist legislation of the Israeli sex industry by illustrating the competing claims of various stakeholders: those leading the legal change and those protesting it. The police subsequently raided these clubs and closed them for 30 days This decision is an illustration of sex industry governance that has characterized Israel since 2007, as it leans toward the adoption of neo-abolitionist legislation by passing a series of laws, among them the “Prohibition on Consumption of Prostitution” which passed on December 31, 2018, and will come into force in July 2020.1 This legislation aims to eradicate different aspects of the sex industry under what Weitzer (2019) called “moralizing discourses.”. These two parties have become strange bedfellows in an attempt to protect sex workers within the framing of a paradigm of oppression

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